Clive ordered to pay up for appeal

FUGITIVE former Queensland Nickel boss Clive Mensink has been ordered to stump up $70,000 if he wants to go ahead with an appeal of two warrants for his arrest.

Mr Mensink appealed the arrest warrants soon after they were issued in March for failing to appear in court, and the taxpayer-funded liquidators of QN want him to provide security for costs of court ahead of time in case he loses the case.

Justice Michael Wigney made an order this morning that Mr Mensink should pay $70,000 into the court, or provide to the registrar an unconditional guarantee from an Australian-owned bank.

He said there was a "significant risk Mr Mensink will not comply with any adverse costs order that may be made against him".

"The attitude that Mr Mensink has displayed to the court's orders, his continuing absence from Australia, and his apparent unwillingness to reveal his whereabouts are highly relevant in considering the risks that any order for costs against Mr Mensink will not be satisfied," Justice Wigney wrote in his judgement.

Bizarrely, Mr Mensink's lawyer and his uncle Clive Palmer say they have not heard from the globetrotting businessman for months - despite forging ahead with the appeal on his behalf.

He has been overseas since last June, and had claimed his planned return date was July 2017.

But according to Justice Wigney's judgement, QN's liquidators still don't know where he is.